THE  ROMANCE  OF 

THE  ENGLISH 

BIBLE 


BY  JOHN  T.  PARIS 


"65^55 
T22 


^  OF  WWc}^ 
*      NOV    2  1911      *\ 


William   Tyndale 


NOV   2  1 


%<•«,  -- 


^'mi 


%i 


THE  ROMANCE  OF 
THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 


PHILADELPHIA 

THE      WESTMINSTER      PRESS 

1911 


Copyright  191 1,  by 

The  Trustees  of  the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Publication 

and  Sabbath-School  Work 


CONTENTS 

Foreword 5 

I.  In  the  Days  of  the  Manuscripts     7 
II.  When  Bibles  Were  Scarce 15 

III.  Tyndale^  the  Martyr  Translator  23 

IV.  Five    Sixteenth     Century    Ver- 

sions     32 

V.  The    Story   of   the   King   James 

Version    39 

VI.  The  Debt  of  the  English  Lan- 
guage to  the  King  James  Ver- 
sion    46 

VII.  The  Revised  Version  of  1881-1885  54 
VIII.  The  American  Standard  Version  60 


FOREWORD 

No  novelist  ever  conceived  a  romance  so 
marvelous  as  the  story  of  how  God  preserved 
his  Word  through  the  centuries.  Fire  and 
earthquake  and  war  have  blotted  many  things 
out  of  existence,  but  God's  Word  has  been 
kept  for  his  people.  Mighty  kings  and  em- 
perors have  tried  to  destroy  the  Word,  but  he 
that  sitteth  in  the  heavens  has  laughed  at  them. 

Only  the  outlines  of  the  wonderful  story 
can  be  told  in  these  pages.  It  is  hoped  that 
the  reader  will  be  led  to  inquire  for  some  of 
the  more  ambitious  volumes  in  which  the  story 
is  told  more  fully. 


I 

IN  THE  DAYS  OF  THE  MANU- 
SCRIPTS 

To-day  a  book  is  called  a  volume.  The 
word  has  an  interesting  history.  It  comes 
from  the  Latin,  and  means  ''something  rolled 
up."  During  the  centuries  before  Christ  the 
books  of  the  law,  of  history,  of  poetry  and  of 
prophecy,  which  we  call  the  books  of  the  Old 
Testament,  were  written  by  the  scribes  on 
papyrus  or  parchment.  The  papyrus  or  parch- 
ment was  fastened  to  a  stick,  as  charts  or 
maps  are  fastened  to-day — with  this  differ- 
ence, of  course :  the  sticks  on  which  maps  are 
rolled  are  placed  at  top  and  bottom,  while  the 
sticks  for  the  ancient  volumes  were  attached 
to  either  end  of  the  long  parchment,  the  writ- 
ing being  at  right  angles  to  the  sticks.  When 
a  parchment  was  ready  for  the  reader  it  was 
rolled  upon  the  left-hand  stick.  On  the  right- 
hand  stick  the  parchment  was  rerolled  as  the 
text  was  read — for  the  Hebrews  read  from 
right  to  left. 

7 


8  The  Romance  of  the  English  Bible 

It  was  probably  such  a  volume,  or  roll,  that 
Hilkiah,  the  priest,  found  in  the  temple  and 
sent  to  King  Josiah.  II  Chron.  34 :  14-18. 
The  roll  of  the  prophecy  of  Isaiah  delivered 
to  Jesus  when  he  entered  into  the  synagogue 
at  Nazareth  must  have  been  of  the  same  gen- 
eral description. 

The  rolls  were  copied  and  recopied  by  the 
scribes  to  whom  this  work  was  committed, 
so  that  many  copies  of  the  books  of  the  Old 
Testament  must  have  been  in  existence  in  the 
time  of  Christ.  Yet  the  oldest  Hebrew  manu- 
script so  far  discovered  was  prepared  in  the 
tenth  century  after  Christ ! 

However,  we  have  older  Bible  manuscripts 
than  this.  More  than  one  hundred  years  be- 
fore Christ,  learned  men  finished  translations 
of  the  Old  Testament,  as  well  as  a  number  of 
other  books  w^hich  are  called  apocryphal  or 
unrecognised.  The  work  thus  completed  was 
called  the  Septiiagint,  meaning  *' seventy," 
probably  because  the  translation  was  author- 
ized by  the  Sanhedrin  of  seventy  members,  or 
because  of  the  tradition  that  seventy-two  men 
had  done  the  work  in  seventy-two  days.  This 
tradition  has  no  basis  in  fact ;  it  is  known  that 
the  translation  required  the  work  of  many  men 


In  the  Days  of  the  Manuscripts  9 

during  a  period  of  about  one  hundred  and  fifty 
years. 

More  than  three  hundred  and  thirty  manu- 
scripts of  the  Septuagint  (or  LXX) — in  whole 
or  in  part — are  now  treasured  in  various  muse- 
ums and  Hbraries.  The  oldest  fragment  dates 
from  the  third  century  after  Christ.  This  was 
not  discovered  until  1903,  at  Oxyrhynchus,  in 
Egypt.  Scholars  are  eagerly  searching  for  still 
earlier  manuscripts. 

Other  famous  manuscripts  of  the  Septuagint 
are  known  as  Codex  Alexandrinus,  or  "A," 
which  is  in  the  British  Museum ;  Codex  Sina- 
Itlcus,  or  "S,"  to  be  seen  in  the  Imperial  Li- 
brary at  St.  Petersburg;  Codex  Ephraem,  or 
"C,"  the  treasure  of  the  Bibliotheque  Nation- 
ale  in  Paris. 

The  Septuagint  was  the  standard  version 
of  the  Old  Testament  books  in  use  among 
Christians  until  Jerome  prepared  the  Vulgate 
or  Latin  version  from  the  Hebrew.  Though 
Jerome's  work  was  completed  in  the  fourth 
century,  the  earliest  known  manuscript  of  the 
Vulgate  dates  from  the  seventh  or  eighth  cen- 
tury. Few  of  the  more  than  eight  thousand 
manuscripts  so  far  discovered  are  older  than 
the  thirteenth  or  fourteenth  century. 


10  The  Romance  of  the  English  Bible 

The  first  manuscripts  of  the  books  of  our 
New  Testament  were  written  by  Paul  when 
he  sent  his  letters  to  the  churches.  These 
manuscripts  were  preserved  by  those  who  re- 
ceived them,  and  frequently  copies  were  sent 
to  other  churches.  The  Gospels  and  the  other 
books  of  the  New  Testament  also  were  pre- 
pared and  multiplied  by  scribes. 

Many  of  the  scribes  who  copied  the  manu- 
scripts were  connected  with  monasteries. 
Copying  was  often  their  sole  employment. 
Frequently  they  were  excused  from  the  rough 
work  of  gardening,  and  so  forth,  in  which  all 
the  other  monks  had  to  share,  in  order  that 
their  hands  might  be  kept  in  the  best  possible 
condition  for  writing. 

The  manuscripts  were  usually  beautifully 
prepared  and  illuminated  on  vellum  or  parch- 
ment. They  were  of  two  kinds — Uncials, 
written  in  capital  letters;  and  Cursives,  writ- 
ten in  a  running  hand.  The  ordinary  Uncial 
manuscript  was  written  without  spaces,  ac- 
cents or  punctuation  marks.  Abbreviations, 
which  were  frequently  used,  were  marked  by 
a  stroke  above  the  letters. 

The  strange  appearance  of  the  Greek  manu- 
script thus  prepared  may  be  illustrated  by  this 


In  the  Days  of  the  Manuscripts  1 1 

arrangement   of   the   English   words   of   John 
14:  I,  2. 

LETNOTYOURHEARTBETROUBLED 
BELIEVEINgdBELIEVEALSOINMEIN 
MYFATHERSHOUSEAREMANYMANS 
lONSIFITWERENOTSOIWOULDHAVE 
TOLDYOUFORIGOTOPREPAREAPLAC 
EFORYOU 

Of  all  the  New  Testament  manuscripts  pre- 
pared by  the  scribes  we  have  to-day  only  one 
hundred  and  twelve  Uncials  and  about  thirty- 
five  hundred  Cursives.  The  oldest  of  the 
Uncials  dates  from  about  the  middle  of  the 
fourth  century,  while  the  oldest  of  the  Cur- 
sives dates  from  the  ninth  century. 

Only  two  of  the  Uncials  contain  the  entire 
New  Testament.  The  story  of  the  discovery 
of  one  of  these — Codex  Sinaiticus — gives  a 
hint  of  the  wonderful  way  in  which  God  has 
preserved  the  Bible  through  the  centuries. 

This  story  takes  us  to  Arabia,  where — at  the 
foot  of  Mount  Sinai — St.  Catherine's  Convent 
was  built  by  order  of  the  Emperor  Justinian 
on  the  supposed  site  of  the  burning  bush  from 
which  God  spoke  to  Moses,  commanding  him 
to  lead  the  Israelites  out  of  Egypt.  One  of 
the  treasures  of  the  convent  was  a  valuable 


12  The  Romance  of  the  English  Bible 

library,  largely  made  up  of  manuscripts.  These 
were  esteemed  of  little  value,  and  the  inmates 
were  gradually  using  them  up  for  fuel. 

In  1844  Constantine  Tischendorf,  a  German 
scholar,  determined  to  find  his  way  to  the  con- 
vent, hoping  to  discover  manuscripts  said  to 
be  there.  It  was  comparatively  easy  to  reach 
the  walls,  but  he  found  it  a  difficult  proposi- 
tion to  persuade  the  residents  to  admit  him. 
Finally  he  gained  his  point,  and  was  lifted  to 
the  entrance  high  up  on  the  wall  by  a  rude 
elevator  fastened  to  a  rope  which  wound 
around  a  drum  turned  by  four  of  the  monks. 
He  searched  through  the  library,  but,  although 
he  saw  many  rare  manuscripts,  there  was  noth- 
ing of  the  kind  he  had  in  mind. 

He  was  about  to  leave  the  convent  when 
he  was  attracted  by  a  basketful  of  parchments, 
intended,  as  he  learned,  for  kindling.  Eagerly 
turning  them  over  he  found  several  leaves  of 
the  Old  Testament  in  Greek,  parts  of  a  manu- 
script older  than  any  Bible  manuscript  of 
which  he  knew.  He  begged  to  be  allowed  to 
carry  away  the  ''kindling,"  and  succeeded  in 
securing  forty-three  pages.  The  rest  of  the 
basketful  was  carefully  carried  back  to  the 
library.     Tischendorf^s  eagerness  had  revealed 


In  the  Days  of  the  Manuscripts  13 

to  the  monks  the  real  vakie  of  the  khidHng! 
In  the  quiet  of  his  own  cell,  the  German 
scholar  examined  the  leaves,  and  identified 
them  as  an  important  part  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, including  four  or  five  books.  In  vain 
he  pleaded  for  other  sheets;  the  monks  were 
firm  in  their  refusal. 

For  years  Tischendorf  dreamed  of  securing 
this  manuscript  treasure  of  St.  Catherine's. 
Again  in  1854  he  sought  the  monks,  but  with- 
out success.  After  waiting  five  years  more 
he  was  for  the  third  time  the  guest  of  the 
monks  of  St.  Catherine's.  They  were  courte- 
ous, but  still  refused  to  grant  his  request. 

Sick  at  heart,  the  scholar  had  made  arrange- 
ments to  go  back  home  when  the  steward 
asked  him  to  go  to  the  steward's  cell  to  see  a 
copy  of  the  Septuagint  he  had  been  reading. 
The  bulky  volume,  wrapped  carefully  in  red 
cloth,  proved  to  be  the  long-desired  fragments 
of  the  Old  Testament,  the  entire  New  Testa- 
ment, as  well  as  several  other  manuscripts. 
With  beating  heart,  but  with  assumed  care- 
lessness, Tischendorf  asked  to  take  the  book 
to  his  room  in  order  to  examine  it  more  at 
his  leisure.  Once  by  himself,  the  cloak  of 
indifference   was   laid   aside.      Eagerly   he   lit 


14  The  Romance  of  the  English  Bible 

his  lamp,  and  all  night  long  he  toiled  to  copy 
a  part  of  the  manuscript  which  gave  a  ver- 
sion of  an  epistle  as  yet  unknown  to  scholars 
in  the  original  Greek. 

In  the  morning,  growing  bolder,  he  asked 
permission  to  carry  the  volume  to  Cairo,  where 
it  might  be  copied  from  beginning  to  end. 
Learning  that  the  prior,  the  only  man  who 
had  authority  to  give  the  permission,  had 
started  to  Cairo,  Tischendorf  hurried  after 
him,  and  —  when  he  had  overtaken  him  — 
pleaded  his  case  so  well  that  permission  was 
given.  But  the  scholar  was  not  content;  he 
wanted  the  original  as  well  as  his  copy.  To 
his  great  joy  he  was  given  permission  to  carry 
it  to  St.  Petersburg,  where  it  is  to-day. 

By  many  it  is  thought  that  this  copy  of  the 
Bible  was  one  of  the  fifty  manuscripts  pre- 
pared by  order  of  Constantine  for  the  prin- 
cipal churches  of  his  empire.  For  these  manu- 
scripts only  the  finest  materials  and  the  most 
skillful  copyists  were  to  be  employed.  The 
fact  that  the  Codex  Sinaiticus  was  prepared 
in  the  most  beautiful  manner  on  the  finest 
parchment,  probably  made  from  the  skins  of 
antelopes,  would  seem  to  go  at  least  part  way 
to  prove  this  theory. 


II 

WHEN  BIBLES  WERE  SCARCE 

In  the  sixth  century  after  Christ,  when  Eng- 
land had  not  yet  been  Christianized,  the  h- 
braries  of  the  monasteries  of  Ireland  held 
precious  portions  of  the  Bible  in  Latin,  and 
perhaps  also  in  Greek  and  Hebrew.  From 
these  various  manuscripts  were  made  some  of 
the  first  translations  of  parts  of  the  Bible  used 
in  England. 

The  Irish  monks  guarded  their  treasured 
manuscripts  most  carefully.  Those  who  were 
privileged  to  study  them  were  forbidden  to 
copy  them  for  their  own  use.  Historians  tell 
of  an  incident  that  grew,  so  it  is  said,  out  of 
the  failure  of  one  man  to  whom  a  manuscript 
was  lent,  to  regard  the  prohibition.  Columba, 
famous  as  one  of  the  early  missionaries  who 
introduced  Christianity  to  Great  Britain,  while 
visiting  Finian  of  Ulster,  made  a  copy  of  his 
host's  Psalter,  working  while  everybody  else 
in  the  house  was  asleep.  When  Finian  dis- 
covered this  he  claimed  the  copy  as  his  own 

15 


16  The  Romance  of  the  English  Bible 

property.  Because  Cokimba  declined  to  give 
it  up,  the  case  was  appealed  to  Diarmad,  king 
of  Tara.  After  careful  consideration,  the 
king  decided  that  Finian  was  in  the  right, 
since  ''to  every  book  belongs  its  son-book  (or 
copy),  as  to  every  cow  belongs  her  calf!" 

Not  many  years  after  the  death  of  Columba 
a  laborer  named  Caedmon  was  employed  at  the 
abbey  of  Whitby  in  Northumbria,  England. 
He  was  an  ignorant  fellow,  and  so  felt  that 
he  was  unable  to  take  part  in  the  entertain- 
ment of  those  who  gathered  at  the  abbey  on 
winter  evenings.  It  was  the  custom  to  ask 
each  person  present  to  sing,  accompanying 
himself  on  the  harp.  Caedmon,  after  listening 
to  the  songs  of  his  companions,  would  steal 
away  from  the  hall  before  he  could  be  asked 
to  take  part  in  the  entertainment.  One  night, 
after  such  an  escape  from  the  abbey,  he  must 
have  fallen  asleep  thinking  of  his  inability  to 
sing,  for  he  dreamed  that  a  voice  said,  "Sing 
to  me."  When  he  answered  that  he  could  not 
sing,  the  voice  said,  ''Sing  to  me  the  first  be- 
ginning of  created  things."  He  thought  he 
sang  a  hymn  of  praise  to  God.  "The  next 
morning" — so  the  incident  is  told  in  "The 
Ancestry  of  our  English   Bible" — "the   story 


When  Bibles  Were  Scarce  17 

of  his  dream  brought  him  before  the  Lady 
Abbess,  and  he  was  found  to  be  possessed  of 
a  divine  gift.  For  as  soon  as  the  monks  trans- 
lated any  portion  of  the  Bible  story  out  of  the 
Latin  text,  he  immediately  sang  it  to  the  ac- 
companiment of  his  harp  in  short  lines  of 
Saxon  verse."  The  songs  he  sang  were  writ- 
ten down,  and  as  ''Casdmon's  Paraphrase"  of 
parts  of  the  Scriptures  they  have  come  down 
to  us. 

Sixty-five  years  after  the  Paraphrase  was 
written  a  monk  named  Bede  died  in  the  mon- 
astery of  Jarrow.  But  before  he  died  he 
wanted  to  finish  the  translation  of  the  Gospel 
of  John,  which  he  had  been  making,  because, 
as  he  said,  *'I  do  not  want  my  boys  (monks) 
to  read  a  lie,  or  to  work  to  no  purpose  after 
I  am  gone."  When  all  was  done  but  one 
chapter  Bede  was  nearly  gone.  *'Take  thy  pen 
and  write  quickly,"  Bede  said  to  his  scribe. 
At  last  all  was  done  but  one  sentence,  so  the 
scribe  told  him.  Again  the  word  came,  ''Write 
quickly."  The  scribe  wrote,  and  Bede  died 
with  a  word  of  praise  on  his  lips  that  he  had 
been  able  to  finish  the  work  he  longed  to  do. 

More  than  one  hundred  years  after  Bede's 
death   the   good   King   Alfred   expressed   the 


18  The  Romance  of  the  English  Bible 

wish  that  all  the  free-born  youths  of  his  king- 
dom should  employ  themselves  on  nothing 
until  they  could  first  read  well  the  English 
Scripture.  In  order  to  make  the  way  easy  for 
those  who  would  do  as  he  wished,  he  began 
a  translation  of  the  Psalms,  but  he  died  be- 
fore the  work  was  completed.  He  had,  how- 
ever, accomplished  one  purpose  that  has  had 
its  influence  on  all  English  law :  he  made  the 
Ten  Commandments  a  part  of  the  law  of  the 
land.  This  is  the  way  his  version  of  seven  of 
the  Commandments  reads  in  the  quaint  Anglo- 
Saxon  : 

Drihten  wses  sprecende  thaes  word  to  Moyse  and 
thus  cwseth : 

Ic  earn  Drihten  thy  God.  Ic  the  sit  gelsedde  of 
Aegypta  londe  and  of  heora  theowdome, 

Ne  kifa  thu  othre  fremde  godas  ofer  me.  .  .  . 

Ara  thinum  faeder  and  thinre  meder  dia  the  Drihten 
sealde  the,  that  thu  sy  thy  leng  libbende  on  eorthan. 

Ne  slea  thu. 

Ne  stala  thu. 

Ne  like  thu  dearnunga. 

Ne  saege  thu  lease  gewitnesse  with  thinum  nehstan. 

Ne  wilna  thu  thines  nehstan  yifes  mid  unrihte. 

Near  the  close  of  the  tenth  century  ap- 
peared   Archbishop's    Aelfric's    Anglo-Saxon 


When  Bibles  Were  Scarce  19 

Bible  intended  for  reading  in  churches.  Of 
course,  the  form  of  many  of  the  letters  was 
different  from  what  we  use  to-day,  but  this  is 
a  fair  representation  of  the  words  of  Alatt. 
7:26,  2y\ 

And  aelc  thaera  the  geh3rath  thas  mine  word  and 
tha  ne  wyrcth  se  bith  gelic  tham  dysigan  man  tha 
getimbrode  hys  bus  ofer  sand-ceosel.  Tha  rinde  h3t 
and  thaer  comun  flod  and  bleovvun  windas  and 
ahruron  on  that  bus,  and  that  bus  feoll  and  bys 
bryre  waes  mycel. 

For  more  than  three  hundred  years  not 
much  attention  was  paid  in  England  to  Bible 
translation.  The  land  was  in  confusion ;  there 
were  wars  and  rumors  of  wars  which  took  the 
attention  of  both  rulers  and  priests.  But  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  fourteenth  century  John 
Wyclif,  who  had  been  at  the  head  of  Balliol 
College,  Oxford,  and  was  later  a  country 
priest,  determined  to  translate  the  Bible  so 
that  it  might  be  read  by  the  common  people. 
The  translation  was  made  from  the  Vulgate, 
half  of  the  Old  Testament  and  all  of  the  New 
Testament  being  the  work  of  Wyclif  himself, 
while  the  remainder  was  done  by  Nicholas  of 
Hereford. 


20  The  Romance  of  the  English  Bible 

No  sooner  was  this  manuscript  version  bear- 
ing Wyclif's  name  completed  than  he  was 
brought  to  trial,  in  1378,  on  several  cliarges, 
the  most  important  being  that  he  had  made  the 
Bible  more  ''common  and  more  open  to  lay- 
men and  to  women  than  it  was  wont  to  be  to 
clerks  well  learned  and  of  good  understanding, 
so  that  the  pearl  of  the  gospel  is  trodden 
under  foot  of  swine." 

Having  triumphed  over  the  enemies  who 
sought  his  life,  Wyclif  began  to  plan  to  get 
the  Bible  before  the  common  people.  Few 
could  afford  a  Bible  of  their  own,  so  he  gath- 
ered about  himself  a  company  of  devoted  men, 
called  "Lollards,"  who  went  about  the  coun- 
try teaching  the  Scriptures  to  all  who  would 
listen.  One  of  Wyclif's  enemies  said,  "You 
cannot  travel  anywhere  in  England  but  of 
every  two  men  one  will  be  a  Lollard." 

In  1384  John  Wyclif  was  stricken  with 
palsy  while  kneeling  with  his  people  in  his 
own  parish  church.  A  monk  who  did  not  like 
him  spoke  of  his  death  in  vigorous  words, 
calling  him  "the  idol  of  heretics,  the  image 
of  hypocrites,  the  restorer  of  schism,  the  store- 
house of  lies,  the  sink  of  flattery." 

The  Bible  of  Wyclif  was  revised  soon  after 


John  Wyclif 


When  Bibles  Were  Scarce  21 

his  death  under  the  supervision  of  Richard 
Purvey,  who — in  a  preface — told  the  story  of 
his  work : 

A  simpel  creature  hath  translated  the  Scripture  out 
of  Latin  into  Englische.  First,  this  simpel  creature 
had  much  travayle  with  divers  fellows  and  helpers  to 
gather  many  old  Bibles  and  other  doctors  and  glosses 
to  make  one  Latin  Bible  some  deal  true  and  then  to 
study  it  anew  the  texte  and  any  other  help  he  might 
get,  especially  Lyra  on  the  old  Testament,  which 
helped  him  much  with  this  work.  The  third  time  to 
counsel  with  olde  grammarians  and  olde  divines  of 
hard  words  and  hard  sentences  how  they  might  best 
be  understood  and  translated,  the  fourth  time  to 
translate  as  clearly  as  he  could  to  the  sense,  and  to 
have  many  good  fellows  and  cunnyng  at  the  correct- 
ing of  the  translacioun.  ...  A  translator  hath  great 
nede  to  study  well  the  sense  both  before  and  after, 
and  then  also  he  hath  nede  to  live  a  clene  life  and  be 
full  devout  in  preiers,  and  have  not  his  wit  occupied 
about  worldli  things  that  the  Holy  Spyrit  author  of 
all  wisdom  and  cunnynge  and  truthe  dresse  him  for 
his  work  and  suffer  him  not  to  err.  .  .  .  God  grant 
to  us  all  grace  to  ken  well  and  to  kepe  well  Holie 
Writ,  and  to  suft'er  joiefulH  some  paine  for  it  at  the 
laste. 

The  circulation  of  Wyclif's  Bible  was  so 
general,  in  spite  of  all  difficulties  in  the  way, 
that  in  1414  all  persons  were  legally  warned 
against  reading  the  Scriptures  in  English,  on 


22  The  Romance  of  the  English  Bible 

pain  of  forfeiture  of  ''land,  catel,  life  and 
goods  from  their  heyres  forever."  Efforts 
were  made  to  destroy  the  books  bearing 
Wyclif's  name,  yet  one  hundred  and  seventy 
copies  have  been  preserved  to  this  day. 

The  law  against  Wyclif's  version  was  not 
enough  to  satisfy  his  enemies.  They  were  not 
content  until  his  bones  had  been  burned  and 
the  ashes  thrown  into  the  river  Swift.  An 
old  writer,  speaking  of  this  occurrence,  said : 
'*As  the  Swift  bare  them  into  the  Severn,  and 
the  Severn  into  the  narrow  seas,  and  they 
again  into  the  ocean,  thus  the  ashes  of  Wyclif 
is  an  emblem  of  his  doctrines,  which  is  now 
dispersed  over  all  the  world." 

Unfortunately,  a  single  copy  of  Wyclif's 
Bible  cost  what  would  be  equal  to  two  hun- 
dred dollars  of  our  money.  Yet  many  who 
could  not  afford  to  own  a  copy  gained  access 
to  one  by  paying  a  fee  for  the  privilege.  The 
case  is  recorded  of  one  man  who  gave  a  load 
of  hay  that  he  might  read  a  manuscript  an 
hour  a  day  for  a  number  of  days. 

But  better  times  were  soon  to  come.  Less 
than  seventy  years  after  the  death  of  Wyclif 
the  art  of  printing  was  invented,  and  cheap 
Bibles  were  made  possible. 


Ill 

TYNDALE,  THE  MARTYR  TRANS- 
LATOR 

In  the  early  days  of  the  sixteenth  century 
a  young  EngHshman  named  WilHam  Tyndale 
found  it  difficult  to  get  access  to  the  Bible. 
There  were  no  printed  copies  in  English,  and 
the  manuscripts  of  Wyclif's  version — which 
was  completed  in  1382 — were  so  expensive 
that  they  could  be  consulted  only  by  the 
wealthy  or  by  those  who  could  use  the  few 
libraries  so  fortunate  as  to  possess  copies. 
The  heart  of  the  young  man  went  out  in  pity 
to  the  millions  who  had  not  even  his  slender 
opportunity  to  read  God's  Word.  So  he  made 
the  resolution  that  shaped  his  life ;  and  he 
stated  it  to  one  who  was  his  opponent  in  a 
debate : 

If  God  spare  my  life,  ere  many  years  I  will  cause 
a  boy  that  driveth  the  plow  shall  know  more  of  the 
Scripture  than  thou  dost. 

The  task  thus  set  himself  by  Tyndale  would 
have  been  comparatively  easy  if  he  had  been 

23 


24  The  Romance  of  the  English  Bible 

content  to  print  the  text  of  one  of  Wyclif 's 
manuscript  Bibles.  But  he  knew  that  WycHf 
had  merely  translated  into  English  the  Vul- 
gate, the  Latin  version  of  the  Bible,  and  he 
was  resolved  to  make  a  translation  from  the 
Greek  and  Hebrew.  Moreover,  the  English 
of  WycHf's  version  was  already  out  of  date, 
as  may  be  judged  from  his  translation  of  Luke 
10:30-34: 

And  Jhesu  biheld,  and  seide,  A  man  came  doun 
from  Jerusalem  in  to  Jerico,  and  fel  among  theves, 
and  thei  robbiden  hym,  and  woundiden  hym,  and 
wente  awei,  and  leften  the  man  half  alyve.  And  it 
bifel  that  a  prest  cam  domi  the  same  weie,  and 
passide  forth,  whanne  he  hadde  seyn  hym.  Also  a 
dekene,  when  he  was  bisidis  the  place,  and  saw  hym, 
passide  forth.  But  a  Samaritan,  goynge  the  weie, 
cam  bisidis  hym ;  and  he  saw  hym,  and  had  ruth  on 
hym;  and  cam  to  hym,  and  bound  together  his 
woundis,  and  helde  in  oyle  and  wynne :  and  laid  hym 
on  his  beast,  and  ledde  in  to  an  ostrie  (inn),  and 
dyd  the  cure  of  hym. 

Tyndale  knew  that  he  faced  almost  certain 
death  if  he  persisted  in  his  attempt  to  give  the 
Bible  to  the  people,  but  he  did  not  pause  be- 
cause of  the  danger.  The  man  who,  when  a 
student  at  Oxford  and  when  tutor  to  the  boys 
of  a  country  gentleman,  had  not  hesitated  to 


Tyndale,  the  Martyr  Translator  25 

defend  what  he  beheved  to  be  the  truth,  even 
if  by  so  domg  he  made  enemies  of  powerful 
men,  would  not  be  held  back  from  what  he 
believed  to  be  his  duty  merely  by  the  fear  of 
death. 

He  did  not  begin  his  translation  at  once,  but 
first  devoted  years  of  study  to  gaining  a  more 
exact  knowledge  of  Hebrew  and  Greek.  He 
became  such  a  skilled  linguist  that  it  was  later 
said  of  him  that  he  spoke  Hebrew,  Greek, 
Latin,  Italian,  Spanish  and  French  as  if  each 
were  his  native  tongue. 

But  his  studies  did  not  take  him  away  from 
the  people.  As  he  had  opportunity  he  left  his 
books  and  went  out  to  the  village  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Bristol,  where  he  was  staying,  and 
preached  in  the  open  air  to  all  who  would 
gather.  There  were  those  in  authority  who 
misunderstood  his  actions,  and  he  was  "re- 
viled and  rated  as  ...  a  dog,"  to  use  his  own 
expression. 

Opposition  only  strengthened  his  purpose 
to  give  to  the  people  the  Bible  in  their  own 
tongue  that  they  might  be  able  to  stand  against 
any  errors  of  ignorant  and  designing  men. 

Persecution  in  the  country  led  the  young 
scholar  to  go,  in  1523,  to  London,  in  the  hope 


26  The  Romance  of  the  English  Bible 

that  at  the  home  of  the  Bishop  of  London  he 
might  find  a  refuge  while  he  undertook  his 
difficult  task.  But  the  bishop  treated  him 
coldly.  Humphry  Monmouth,  an  alderman  of 
the  city,  opened  his  doors  to  the  poor  scholar, 
and  showed  him  other  kindnesses  for  which 
he  later  suffered  imprisonment  in  the  Tower 
of  London.  We  owe  it  to  this  generous  host 
that  we  have  a  picture  of  the  six  months  spent 
by  Tyndale  with  him : 

He  studied  most  part  of  the  day  and  of  the  night 
at  his  book;  and  he  would  eat  but  sodden  meat  by 
his  good  will,  nor  drink  but  single  beer.  I  never 
saw  him  wear  linen  about  him  during  the  space  he 
was  with  me. 

A  year's  residence  in .  the  city  showed  Tyn- 
dale that  if  he  would  succeed  in  translating 
the  Bible  he  must  leave  England  and  go  to 
the  Continent.  So  he  went  to  Hamburg  in 
1524.  There  he  was  compelled  to  do  his  work 
in  secret  in  order  that  his  life  might  be  pre- 
served till  the  Book  should  be  translated  and 
printed.  After  a  few  months  of  arduous 
labor,  the  New  Testament  was  completed. 
English  friends  provided  funds  for  the  print- 
ing at  Cologne. 


Tyndale,  the  Martyr  Translator  27 

Peter  Quentel,  who  was  engaged  to  do  the 
mechanical  work,  had  run  through  the  press 
a  large  number  of  the  sheets  required  for  the 
modest  edition  of  three  thousand  copies,  when 
word  was  brought  to  him  that  enemies  of  the 
Reformation  had  obtained  from  the  Cologne 
Senate  an  order  prohibiting  the  printing.  Tyn- 
dale hastily  went  to  Worms,  carrying  the 
sheets  with  him. 

In  Worms  plans  were  changed.  It  became 
necessary  to  print  an  octavo  edition  as  well  as 
a  quarto  edition,  because  a  description  of  the 
latter  had  been  sent  to  England  by  spies.  Of 
the  six  thousand  copies  prepared — three  thou- 
sand of  each  edition — only  three  are  known 
to-day,  an  imperfect  copy  of  the  quarto  edi- 
tion and  two  copies  of  the  octavo  edition ! 

The  finished  books  were  smuggled  to  Eng- 
land, hidden  in  cases  of  other  goods.  As  the 
people  came  to  know  about  them  they  clam- 
ored for  them.  It  is  said  that  some  men  of 
wealth  were  so  eager  for  a  copy  that  they 
were  willing,  if  necessary,  to  give  a  hundred 
thousand  pieces  of  money  in  exchange  for  one. 
The  poor  people,  for  whom  the  translation 
had  been  especially  prepared,  were  as  hungry 
for  the  books   as   the   wealthy,   and   the   king 


28  The  Romance  of  the  English  Bible 

and  his  counselors  were  as  eager  to  secure 
the  volumes  as  the  people.  However,  their 
object  was  to  get  hold  of  the  books  only  that 
they  might  destroy  them. 

Bonfires  were  made  of  the  copies  secured 
by  the  authorities.  In  London,  Oxford  and 
Antwerp  many  volumes  were  thus  destroyed. 
Overtures  w^re  made  to  an  English  merchant 
named  Pakington  trading  in  Antwerp  to  buy 
up  secretly  all  the  copies  he  could  find. 

It  was  not  known  that  Pakington,  being  a 
warm  friend  of  Tyndale,  was  interested  in  the 
success  of  the  new  translation.  So  the  Bishop 
of  London  did  not  hesitate  to  approach  him. 
To  his  overtures  the  merchant  replied : 

"My  lord,  if  it  be  your  pleasure,  I  could 
do  in  this  matter  probably  more  than  any  mer- 
chant in  England ;  so  if  it  be  your  lordship's 
pleasure  to  pay  for  them — for  I  must  disburse 
money  for  them — I  will  insure  you  to  have 
every  book  that  remains  unsold." 

"Gentle  Master  Pakington,"  was  the  reply, 
"do  your  diligence  and  get  them  for  me,  and 
I  will  gladly  give  you  whatever  they  may  cost 
for  the  books  are  naughty,  and  I  intend  surely 
to  destroy  them  all,  and  to  burn  them  at  Paul's 
Cross."  ' 


Tyndale,  the  Martyr  Translator  29 

Pakington  went  to  Tyndale  and  asked  him 
to  sell  him  testaments.  Tyndale  was  indignant 
till  the  explanation  w^as  given  that  by  means 
of  the  high  price  offered  for  the  books  by 
those  who  would  destroy  them  a  much  larger 
edition  could  be  printed,  and  the  good  work 
of  spreading  knowledge  of  the  Bible  would 
be  carried  on  and  by  the  aid  of  the  very  men 
who  sought  to  stop  his  work !  The  copies 
were  furnished,  the  money  paid  and  Tyndale's 
empty  pockets  w-ere  filled. 

The  Pentateuch  and  parts  of  the  Prophets 
were  next  translated,  and  were  printed  in 
1534.  In  the  same  year  appeared  a  revision 
of  the  New  Testament  printed  in  1526,  which 
showed  the  extreme  care  of  Tyndale's  work. 
His  greater  familiarity  with  the  Greek  enabled 
him  to  correct  many  mistakes. 

With  such  accuracy  w^as  the  work  done  that 
the  Authorized  Version  of  161 1  and  the  Re- 
vised Version  of  1881  retained  many  of  his 
words  and  sentences.  For  instance,  of  the  two 
hundred  and  two  words  in  the  difficult  pas- 
sage. Col.  1:9-17,  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
eight  are  retained  in  the  Revised  Version. 
Some  of  the  words  used  look  strange  to  us 
because  of  the  old  spelling,  but  most  of  them 


30  The  Romance  of  the  English  Bible 

are  the   words   to  which  we  are  accustomed, 
as  may  be  seen  from  Phil.  2 :  5-8 : 

Let  the  same  mynde  be  in  you  that  was  in  Christ 
Jesu :  which  beynge  in  the  shape  of  God,  and  thought 
it  not  robbery  to  be  equall  with  God.  Nevertheless, 
he  made  him  silfe  of  no  reputacion,  and  toke  on  him 
the  shape  of  a  se'rvaunte,  and  became  lyke  unto  men, 
and  was  found  in  his  aparell  as  a  man. 

The  study  of  the  pure,  vigorous  English  of 
this  version  played  a  wonderful  part  in  fixing 
the  form  of  the  English  language.  We  are 
using  in  our  daily  speech  words  and  phrases 
put  together  by  a  half-starved  exile  living  con- 
stantly in  the  shadow  of  sudden  death. 

The  enmity  of  those  in  authority  for  Tyn- 
dale,  increased  as  his  version  of  the  Bible 
found  its  way  into  the  hearts  of  the  people 
in  spite  of  all  efforts  made  to  prevent  this. 
To  Antwerp — where  he  was  living  in  1535 — 
he  was  pursued.  He  was  arrested  and  im- 
prisoned for  more  than  a  year.  On  October 
6,  1536,  he  was  strangled,  and  his  body  was 
burned.  His  last  words  were  the  prayer, 
''Lord,  open  the  king  of  England's  eyes." 

Tyndale's  monument  is  the  English  Bible 
for  which  he  gave  his  life,  for,  as  one  modern 


Tyndale,  the  Martyr  Translator  31 

scholar  has  said :  ''The  Bible  of  the  English- 
speaking  nations  was  very  largely  the  work 
of  one  heroic,  simple-minded,  scholarly  man, 
William  Tyndale." 


IV 

FIVE   SIXTEENTH   CENTURY 
VERSIONS 

The  first  complete  printed  Bible  in  English 
was  issued  one  year  before  Tyndale's  death. 
This  volume  was  compiled  by  one  Miles 
Coverdale,  a  monk  who  had  acquired  a  taste 
for  Bible  study  while  he  was  in  St.  Augustine 
Monastery.  He  used  Tyndale's  translations 
as  a  basis,  supplementing  these  by  translations 
from  other  versions.  By  some  means  the 
favor  of  Henry  VIII  was  secured  for  the  new 
edition,  and  within  a  year  after  Tyndale's 
martyrdom  the  Bible  was  being  sold  openly 
to  the  English  people. 

In  1537  another  compilation  and  translation 
came  from  the  press.  This  was  known  as 
Matthew's  Bible.  It  was  so  superior  to  Cover- 
dale's  Bible  that  on  all  sides  it  was  heartily 
received.  This  is  the  story  of  the  new  ver- 
sion : 

John  Rogers  frequently  visited  Tyndale  in 
Vilvorde  Castle,  where  the  heroic  Bible  stu- 

32 


Five  Sixteenth  Century  Versions  33 

dent  was  confined.  Tyndale,  knowing  that  he 
would  be  unable  to  publish  the  parts  of  his 
Bible  not  yet  given  to  the  world,  turned  them 
over  to  Rogers.  Rogers  then  issued  a  version 
of  the  Bible  made  up  largely  of  Tyndale's 
work,  though  Coverdale's  translation  was  used 
for  the  latter  part  of  the  Old  Testament. 
Credit  could  not  be  given  to  Tyndale  for  his 
part,  since  his  Bible  had  been  forbidden. 
Rogers  would  not  use  his  own  name  for  what 
was  not  his  work.  So  the  book  appeared  with 
the  name  'Thomas  Matthew"  on  the  title-page. 
Possibly  this  was  the  name  of  a  man  of  means 
who  paid  the  expenses  of  the  edition,  though 
it  may  have  been  merely  a  name  assumed  by 
Rogers  to  save  himself  from  taking  the  credit 
which  belonged  to  Tyndale. 

Henry  VIII,  to  whom  the  new  version  was 
dedicated,  gave  permission  for  its  open  sale  in 
England.  He  did  not  know  that  so  much  of 
it  was  the  work  of  Tyndale.  Thomas  Crom- 
well, who  had  urged  the  approval  of  the  Bible, 
was  evidently  afraid  that  the  king  might  learn 
the  truth,  so  he  hastened  to  arrange  with 
Coverdale  to  undertake  a  new  translation.  In 
this  Coverdale  was  to  be  aided  by  many  Greek 
and  Hebrew  scholars. 


34  The  Romance  of  the  English  Bible 

The  version  prepared  under  Coverdale's  di- 
rection was  printed  in  1539.  I"  reality  it  was 
only  a  hastily  compiled  version  of  Matthew's 
Bible. 

Enemies  of  the  circulation  of  the  Bible  in- 
terfered with  the  printing  of  this  book  in 
Paris,  so  the  sheets  were  taken  to  England, 
and  the  work  was  completed  there.  After 
many  vicissitudes  it  came  from  the  binder's 
hands,  a  handsome  book,  so  large  that  it  was 
called  "the  Great  Bible." 

In  1538 — less  than  thirteen  years  after  the 
burning  of  Tyndale's  Bible — orders  were  sent 
by  the  king's  command  to  all  ministers  in  the 
kingdom  directing  them  to  secure  "one  boke 
of  the  whole  Bible,  in  the  largest  volume,  in 
Englyshe,  sett  up  in  summe  convenyent  place 
within  the  churche  that  ye  have  cure  of, 
whereat  your  parishioners  may  most  com- 
modiously  resort  to  the  same  and  rede  it." 

The  people  received  the  open  Bible  gladly. 
One  writer  says : 

It  was  wonderful  to  see  with  what  joy  this  Book 
of  God  was  received,  not  only  among  the  learneder 
sort  and  those  that  were  noted  lovers  of  the  Reforma- 
tion, but  generally  all  England  over  among  all  the 
vulgar  and  common  people;  and  with  what  greedi- 


'  jlrhf  e  arc  tbclav\(a  iljat  l(  •, 
1^  t^oun?altl37ebtro;cil?e;ii.    y  / 


BIBHA 

fully  Ant)  ttuly  tranflatcb  out 
of  2)0U(tcant>il<ttyri 


j  ^4uefrepafra3e,ant>b€3iw6«&.tjd* 

SpaulCoI.IH. 
fcet  t^e  wojbc  of  C^)u(i  bwclfin  y^U  pTcn 
t««ufly  in  all  wy^bome  tc£ 

^ofuc  I. 
JLtt  not  tl?c  bote  of  t^fe  fcwebf parte 
outoft^ymoutb,but  excrcyfc  t^yfelfc 
t^crmtxtycftilb  tiist)tc  tcf.- 


TiTLE  Page  of  Co\nERDALE's  Bible 


Five  Sixteenth  Century  Versions  35 

ness  God's  Word  was  read,  and  what  resort  to  places 
where  the  reading  of  it  was.  Everybody  that  could 
bought  the  book  or  busily  read  it,  or  got  others  to 
read  it  to  them,  if  they  could  not  themselves,  and 
divers  more  elderly  people  learned  to  read  on  pur- 
pose. And  even  little  boys  flocked  among  the  rest 
to  hear  portions  of  the  Holy  Scripture  read. 

So  great  was  the  interest  of  the  people  in 
the  Bibles  placed  in  the  churches  that  Bishop 
Bonner  complained  to  the  king  that  "diverse 
willful  and  unlearned  persons  inconsiderately 
and  indiscreetly  read  the  same,  especially  and 
chiefly  at  the  times  of  divine  service,  yea  in 
the  time  and  declaration  of  the  Word  of  God." 
And  the  king  found  it  necessary  to  tell  the 
minister  to  warn  the  people  that  they  should 
use  the  Bible  ''most  humbly  and  reverently," 
not  "having  thereof  any  open  reasoning  in 
your  open  taverns  or  alehouses." 

The  name  of  Richard  Taverner  must  be 
written  on  the  roll  of  sixteenth  century  heroes 
who  suffered  for  his  devotion  to  the  Bible. 
When  a  young  man  he  was  imprisoned  be- 
cause he  had  been  caught  reading  a  copy  of 
the  New  Testament,  translated  by  Tyndale. 
Later,  while  practicing  law,  he  devoted  his 
spare  time  to  preparing  a  new  edition  of  the 


36  The  Romance  of  the  English  Bible 

Bible,  on  the  basis  of  earlier  translations.  This 
was  published  in  1539.  His  knowledge  of 
Greek  enabled  him  to  correct  errors  made  by 
others,  but  his  work  as  a  whole  was  not  re- 
markable. Taverner's  Bible  passed  through 
several  editions,  yet  the  version  was  soon  dis- 
placed by  others  destined  to  have  more  influ- 
ence on  the  permanent  form  of  the  English 
text. 

In  later  life  Taverner  was  a  preacher.  If 
his  sermons  were  all  as  strongly  worded  as 
the  report  that  has  come  down  to  us  of  the 
introduction  to  a  discourse  given  at  Oxford, 
he  must  have  been  an  oddity.  On  this  occa- 
sion he  said :  "I  have  brought  you  some  fine 
biscuits,  baked  in  the  oven  of  charity,  care- 
fully conserved  for  the  chickens  of  the  church, 
the  sparrows  of  the  spirit,  and  the  sweet  swal- 
lows of  salvation." 

Enemies  of  the  Reformation  in  England 
were  not  pleased  that  the  Bible  was  becoming 
so  well  known,  so  in  1543  they  persuaded 
King  Henry  VIII  to  order  that  no  laboring 
men  and  women  "should  read  to  themselves 
or  to  others,  publicly  or  privately,  any  part 
of  the  Bible,  under  pain  of  imprisonment." 
When,  however,  Edward  VI  became  king  the 


Five  Sixteenth  Century  Versions  37 

circulation  of  the  Bible  was  again  allowed. 
Thirty-five  editions  of  the  New  Testament 
and  thirteen  of  the  entire  Bible  were  issued 
during  his  brief  reign  from  1547  to  1553. 

Mary,  who  began  to  reign  in  1553,  did  her 
best  to  stop  the  circulation  of  the  Bible.  Even 
its  public  use  was  forbidden.  Copies  were 
taken  from  the  churches  and  burned.  Hun- 
dreds of  reformers  were  burned  at  the  stake, 
among  these  being  John  Rogers,  the  compiler 
of  Matthew's  Bible. 

To  escape  the  persecution  in  England  many 
leaders  of  the  Reformation  fled  to  Geneva. 
During  their  exile  a  company  of  scholars 
among  these  prepared  a  new  version  of  the 
Bible  which  was  printed  in  1560.  The  ver- 
sion was  dedicated  to  Queen  Elizabeth,  Mary's 
successor,  who  gave  permission  for  the  print- 
ing and  circulation  of  the  book.  The  Geneva 
Bible — the  first  Bible  printed  in  Roman  type, 
instead  of  black  letters — was  received  in  eager- 
ness. Before  long  it  became  the  popular  Bible 
of  the  hour. 

The  popularity  of  the  Geneva  Bible  did  not 
please  the  authorities  of  the  established  church, 
so  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  ordered  the 
revision  of  the  Great  Bible,  in  the  hope  that 


38  The  Romance  of  the  English  Bible 

the  new  work  would  displace  the  others.  The 
translation  was  done  by  a  company  of  scholars, 
several  of  whom  were  bishops.  Their  com- 
pleted work — known  as  *'the  Bishops'  Bible" — 
was  published  in  1568. 

The  new  Bible  was  not  popular.  It  was 
far  inferior  to  the  Geneva  Bible,  and  the 
circulation  was  comparatively  small.  Only 
twenty  editions  were  published,  while  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  editions  of  the  Geneva  Bible 
were  printed  before  161 1. 

The  Rhemes  New  Testament  of  1582  and 
the  Douai  Old  Testament  of  1609  did  not  play 
much  of  a  part  in  the  development  of  the 
modern  English  Bible,  though  these  were  the 
last  of  the  early  versions  that  brought  about 
the  fulfillment  of  Tyndale's  dream  to  make 
the  Bible  familiar  to  every  ''boy  that  driveth 
the  plow."  They  had  paved  the  way  for  the 
King  James  Version  of  161 1,  the  version  that 
displaced  all  other  versions  for  nearly  three 
hundred  years. 


V 

THE  STORY  OF  THE  KING  JAMES 
VERSION 

Early  in  the  sixteenth  century  the  Puritans 
of  England  made  complaint  to  King  James  I 
because  of  certain  things  in  church  govern- 
ment which  they  thought  should  be  corrected. 
They  did  not  dream  that  there  could  be  any- 
thing better  in  store  for  them  than  the  grant- 
ing of  their  petitions  for  reforms.  Yet,  while 
their  requests  were  denied,  these  bore  fruit  in 
one  of  the  most  momentous  events  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  English  Bible — the  king's  call  for 
a  new  translation. 

At  the  time  the  Puritans  made  their  com- 
plaints. King  James  called  a  conference  of 
leaders  both  of  the  Puritans  and  of  the  High 
Church  party.  The  conference  met  at  Hamp- 
ton Court  in  1604.  On  the  second  day  Dr. 
Reynolds,  president  of  Corpus  Christi  College, 
Oxford,  complained  that  the  rival  Bible  ver- 
sions of  the  day— the  Bishops'  Bible,  used  by 
authority  of  Parliament  in  the  churches,  and 
39 


40  The  Romance  of  the  English  Bible 

the  Geneva  Bible,  the  greater  favorite  with 
the  people — were  defective.  Then  he  sug- 
gested that  a  new  and  more  accurate  version 
be  prepared  at  once. 

But  for  this  suggestion  perhaps  the  con- 
ference would  not  have  found  a  place  in  his- 
torical records,  for  the  advance  plans  made 
by  the  Puritans  came  to  naught.  However, 
the  suggestion  made  by  Dr.  Reynolds,  the 
leader  of  the  Puritans,  bore  unexpected  fruit. 
The  idea  of  a  new  Bible  version  made  by  men 
chosen  under  his  direction  appealed  to  King 
James,  who  was  proud  of  the  scholarly  attain- 
ments that  secured  for  him  the  title,  **the  theo- 
logian king." 

The  Bishop  of  London  objected  to  a  new 
translation  on  the  ground  that  ''if  every  man's 
humor  should  be  followed,  there  would  be  no 
end  of  translations."  King  James  deferred  to 
the  objection  by  giving  the  direction  that  no 
marginal  notes  should  be  added  to  the  new 
version,  complaint  having  been  made  against 
previous  versions  because  of  such  notes. 

The  Bishop  of  London  was  asked  by  the 
king  to  invite  all  men  acquainted  with  Hebrew 
or  Greek  to  make  known  through  their  bishops 
any  changes  they  thought  should  be  made  in 


The  Story  of  the  King  James  Version        41 

the  text.  These  changes  were  to  be  considered 
by  fifty-four  Oxford  and  Cambridge  men, 
whom  the  king  named.  Only  forty-seven  of 
these  took  part  in  the  work. 

The  revisers  set  about  their  work  in  1607, 
three  years  after  the  king  decided  to  under- 
take the  revision.  They  were  divided  into 
five  companies,  each  of  which  had  its  own  por- 
tion of  the  Bible  assigned  to  it.  The  com- 
panies met  in  Westminster,  Oxford  and  Cam- 
bridge. The  expenses  of  the  revision  were  to 
be  paid  out  of  funds  contributed  for  the  pur- 
pose by  the  bishops.  Unfortunately,  thirty  of 
the  scholars  received  nothing  but  their  enter- 
tainment while  at  work.  The  seventeen  men 
to  whom  other  payment  was  made  met  in  Lon- 
don. 

The  king  made  known  to  the  translators  fif- 
teen rules  by  which  they  were  to  be  guided 
in  their  work.  It  is  said  that  these  rules  were 
followed  at  the  discretion  of  the  revisers ! 

One  of  these  rules  directed  that  the  divi- 
sion into  chapters  should  be  altered  "either  not 
at  all,  or  as  little  as  may  be."  This  division 
first  appeared  in  Tyndale's  Bible;  the  division 
into  verses  first  appeared  in  the  Geneva  Bible, 
it   is   said,   having   been   prepared   by   Robert 


42  The  Romance  of  the  English  Bible 

Stephen  while  he  was  making  a  journey  from 
Paris  to  Lyons ! 

Other  rules  decreed  that  "every  particular 
man  of  each  company"  should  translate  the 
same  chapter,  and  should  then  compare  his 
work  with  that  done  by  the  rest  of  the  com- 
pany; that,  when  a  book  was  completed  by 
one  company,  the  result  should  be  sent  for 
judgment  to  the  other  companies;  and  that 
any  disagreement  should  be  considered  at  a 
general  meeting  to  take  place  when  all  had 
done  their  work. 

The  men  chosen  for  the  work  were  the  best 
Hebrew  and  Greek  scholars  of  the  time.  We 
know  a  little  of  some  of  them,  through  a 
writer  of  the  day  who  says  that  Lively  was 
''one  of  the  first  linguists  of  the  world" ;  Rey- 
nolds was  "a  very  treasury  of  erudition" ; 
Killbye  was  ''another  Apollos" ;  Doune  was 
"composed  of  Greek  and  industry" ;  and  Miles 
Smith  "had  Hebrew  at  his  finger  ends." 

The  details  of  the  work  have  not  come  down 
to  us.  There  is  not  even  a  copy  of  one  of 
the  old  versions  used  by  the  translators.  A 
document  like  that,  with  notes  of  proposed 
readings,  would  be  a  valuable  relic.  But  we 
are  left  to  imae^ine  the  earnest  discussions  of 


The  Story  of  the  King  James  Version        43 

the  men  who  gladly  set  to  work  on  the  task 
assigned  them  by  the  king.  One  writer  says, 
"Never  was  a  great  production  like  our 
Authorized  Version  carried  on  with  less 
knowledge  handed  down  to  posterity  of  the 
laborers,  their  methods  and  order  of  work- 
ing." 

It  is  known  that  when  the  three  companies 
busy  at  Westminster  and  Cambridge  and  Ox- 
ford completed  their  work  each  sent  the  result 
to  London  in  the  hands  of  two  of  the  com- 
pany. There  the  six  men  met  and  received 
all  the  suggestions  made,  and  decided  on  final 
renderings  in  the  case  of  every  passage  con- 
cerning which   there  were  different   opinions. 

How  profitable  it  would  be  if  we  could  read 
a  report  of  the  proceedings  of  the  conferences 
held  by  these  men !  What  a  lesson  we  would 
have  in  the  art  of  making  concessions  to  those 
whose  opinions  differ  from  our  own  ! 

This  fi.nal  revision  in  London  required  nine 
months,  while  the  work  of  the  committee  had 
occupied  perhaps  three  years.  Since  three 
years  had  elapsed  after  the  announcement  of 
the  proposed  revision  before  the  work  was 
actually  begun,  the  finished  King  James  Ver- 
sion was  not  given  to  the  world  until   1611. 


44  The  Romance  of  the  English  Bible 

The  year  191 1,  then,  is  to  be  observed  by  the 
Bible  societies  of  the  English-speaking  world 
as  the  three  hundredth  anniversary  of  the 
appearance  of  the  epoch-making  Book. 

While  the  King  James  Version  has  always 
been  called  the  Authorized  Version,  there  is 
no  evidence  that  it  was  ever  authorized  by  any- 
body in  power.  The  title-page  bears  the 
words,  "Appointed  to  be  read  in  churches," 
but  history  does  not  tell  by  whom  the  appoint- 
ment was  made.  We  only  know  that  the  king- 
ordered  the  revision. 

Of  course  there  was  widespread  opposition 
to  the  new  version  on  the  part  of  those  who 
had  become  used  to  the  Ijishops'  Bible  or  the 
Geneva  Bible.  But  opposition  gradually  be- 
came approval  as  the  readers  learned  that  the 
best  things  in  previous  versions  had  been  re- 
tained. Within  a  generation  the  superiority 
of  the  Authorized  Version  was  generally  ac- 
knowledged. No  one  can  wonder  at  this  who 
goes  back  to  the  old  versions  and  finds  there 
such  phrases  as :  ''The  sin  that  hangeth  so 
fast  on  us,"  and  "As  the  hart  brayeth  for  the 
rivers  of  water." 

The  King  James  Version  was  a  triumph 
for  William  Tyndale,  the  martyr  translator  of 


The  Story  of  the  King  James  Version         45 

the  early  sixteenth  century.  His  proscribed 
version  was  the  basis  of  the  versions  on  vi^hich 
the  revisers  of  King  James  did  their  work, 
many  of  his  expressions  being  transferred 
bodily  by  them.  The  Revised  Version  made 
in  the  latter  part  of  the  nineteenth  century 
completed  this  triumph,  for  eight  ninths  of 
the  words  used  in  the  Authorized  Version 
appeared  in  the  Revised  Version. 


VI 

THE   DEBT   OF    THE    ENGLISH   LAN- 
GUAGE TO  THE  KING  JAMES 
VERSION 

Some  years  ago  a  professor  of  English 
literature  in  Yale  University  in  a  lecture 
called  attention  to  the  fact  that  Percy  Bysshe 
Shelley,  when  a  boy  of  eighteen,  declared 
that  it  was  absolutely  essential  to  man's  hap- 
piness that  every  leaf  should  be  torn  ''from 
the  accursed  book  of  God/'  He  himself 
scorned  to  think  that  the  Bible  influenced  him 
in  any  way.  Yet  it  is  a  fact  that  within  eight 
years  after  these  words  were  quoted  by  Shelley, 
he  wrote  this  sentence  in  which  he  showed 
the  influence  of  the  Bible  on  his  thought  and 
his  style :  "Their  errors  have  been  weighed 
and  have  been  found  to  be  dust  in  the  bal- 
ance; if  their  sins  were  as  scarlet,  they  are 
now  white  as  snow;  they  have  been  washed 
in  the  blood  of  the  mediator  and  redeemer, 
Time." 

Shelley   could   not   escape   this   unconscious 

46 


English  Language  and  King  James  Version      47 

use  of  phrases  of  Scripture  which  have  be- 
come a  part  of  the  effective  language  of  the 
plain  people.  In  spite  of  himself  his  thoughts 
found  expression  in  the  forceful,  picturesque 
English  employed  by  the  translators  of  the 
King  James  Version. 

In  the  same  manner  the  speech  and  the 
writings  of  many  who  sneer  at  the  teachings 
of  the  Bible  bear  unconscious  testimony  to 
the  influence  of  the  rugged  English  of  the 
Bible  on  the  language  of  every  day,  for,  as 
has  been  said,  "the  Bible  is  of  all  books  the 
most  thoroughly  woven  into  the  thought  and 
language   of   English-speaking   people." 

While  in  many  cases  the  use  of  the  phrase- 
ology of  Scripture  is  accidental,  there  are 
writers  and  speakers  almost  without  number 
who  have  determined  definitely  to  read  and 
reread  the  Bible  that  the  study  may  give  vigor 
to  their  style.  Coleridge  once  insisted  that 
the  study  of  the  Bible  would  elevate  a  writer's 
style.  Masters  of  English  have  declared  that 
the  writer  whose  style  departs  far  from  Bible 
characteristics  is  not  a  writer  of  good  Eng- 
lish. Those  authors  whose  works  stand  high- 
est have  learned  this  lesson  so  well  that  one 
professor  of  English  recently  said  ''it  would 


48  The  Romance  of  the  English  Bible 

be  worth  while  to  read  the  Bible  carefully  and 
repeatedly,  if  only  as  a  key  to  modern  culture, 
for  to  those  who  are  unfamiliar  with  its  teach- 
ings and  its  diction  much  that  is  best  in  the 
English  literature  of  the  present  century  is  as 
a  sealed  book." 

The  poetry  of  Shakspere  is  a  single  illus- 
tration of  this  influence  of  the  Bible  on  litera- 
ture. One  who  has  made  careful  study  of  all 
the  writings  of  the  Bard  of  Avon  says  that  he 
used  more  than  five  hundred  and  fifty  biblical 
quotations,  allusions,  and  so  forth,  that  he 
quotes  from  fifty-four  of  the  sixty-six  biblical 
books,  and  that  not  one  of  his  thirty-seven 
plays  is  without  a  scriptural  reference. 

Abraham  Lincoln  made  constant  use  of 
Bible  language — familiar  to  him  from  his 
boyhood.  Whether  he  was  talking  in  the 
privacy  of  his  cabinet  room  or  making  one 
of  his  immortal  addresses,  scriptural  allusions 
or  quotations  were  continually  on  his  tongue. 
Because  the  language  of  the  Bible  enabled 
him  most  effectually  to  make  his  impression 
on  those  who '  heard  him,  he  employed  its 
simple,   direct,   convincing   words. 

But  it  is  not  only  the  speech  and  the  writ- 
ings   of    famous    men    that    are    impregnated 


English  Language  and  King  James  Version     49 

with  Scripture.  The  everyday  language  of 
the  home,  the  school,  the  place  of  business  is 
scriptural  language.  Those  who  are  tempted 
to  question  this  statement  need  only  to  read 
a  list  of  common  phrases  noted  by  Dr.  Henry 
van  Dyke.  Every  one  of  these  comes  straight 
from  the  Bible : 

"A  good  old  age,"  "the  wife  of  thy  bosom," 
''the  apple  of  his  eye,"  "gathered  to  his 
fathers,"  "a  mother  in  Israel,"  "a  land  flow- 
ing with  milk  and  honey,"  "the  windows  of 
heaven,"  "the  fountains  of  the  great  deep," 
"the  valley  of  decision,"  "one  little  ewe  lamb," 
"thou  art  the  man,"  "a  still  small  voice,"  "as 
the  sparks  fly  upward,"  "miserable  com- 
forters," "the  strife  of  tongues,"  "the  pride  of 
life,"  "from  strength  to  strength,"  "as  a  dream 
when  one  awaketh,"  "the  wings  of  the  morn- 
ing," "the  highways  and  hedges,"  "the  salt  of 
the  earth,"  "the  burden  and  heat  of  the  day," 
"as  a  drop  of  a  bucket,"  "a  pearl  of  great 
price,"  "decently  and  in  order,"  "a  thorn  in 
the  flesh,"  "a  cloud  of  witnesses,"  "a  crown 
of  life." 

This  list  is  only  a  suggestion.  The  phrases 
are  almost  without  number.  Men  use  them 
without  realizing  what  they  are  doing.     They 


50  The  Romance  of  the  English  Bible 

are  used  because  they  express  the  thoughts 
so  accurately,  concisely  and  picturesquely. 
Those  who  hear  them  realize  how  apt 
they  are,  and  they  make  use  of  them 
for  themselves.  Thus,  year  by  year,  the 
phrases  become  more  and  more  part  of 
the  language. 

Those  who  would  know  how  the  language 
of  the  Bible  came  to  have  such  a  vital  effect 
on  the  English  language  must  picture  to  them- 
selves the  situation  of  those  who  prepared  the 
early  English  versions  of  the  Bible.  They  lived 
in  troublous  times.  It  was  long  a  crime  to 
give  the  Bible  to  the  common  people ;  those 
who  translated  the  Book  and  those  who 
printed  it  took  their  lives  in  their  hands.  Yet 
they  persisted  in  the  work  which  they  felt 
God  had  given  them  to  do.  Some  paid  for 
their  faithfulness  with  their  lives.  Others  spent 
years  in  exile.  It  is  not  strange  that  transla- 
tions made  by  such  men  reflected  what  has 
been  called  the  intensity  of  their  feeling — the 
language  they  used  was  vigorous  and  ex- 
pressive and  it  appealed  to  those  who  heard 
it.  Some  of  the  most  characteristic  phrases 
preserved  in  the  Authorized  Version  were 
coined   bv    Tvndalc,    who   worked   under   the 


English  Language  and  King  James  Version     5 1 

shadow  of  the  death  which  soon  after  came 
to  him,  and  by  the  exiles  at  Geneva,  whose 
hearts  lovingly  turned  back  to  England. 

It  is  true  that  the  revisers  appointed  by  King 
James  had  no  such  fears  for  their  own  safety, 
but  they  were  excited  by  the  stirring  events 
that  were  constantly  taking  place  about  them. 
The  effect  was  the  same— ^the  use  of  the  terse, 
straightforward  English  words  and  phrases 
that  go  straight  to  the  heart. 

A  second  reason  for  the  vigor  of  the  style 
of  the  Authorized  V^ersion  is  the  fact  that 
when  the  translators  did  their  work  the  Eng- 
lish language  was  made  up  very  largely  of 
Anglo-Saxon  words.  Not  many  words  from 
the  Greek  and  Latin  had  been  transferred  into 
English.  These  words  came  in  large  num- 
bers only  with  the  growth  of  scientific  studies 
in  later  years.  Thus  the  translators  were  able 
to  transfer  into  English  the  picturesqueness  of 
Hebrew  phrase  in  a  way  that  would  have  been 
impossible  in  later  years  when  classical  words 
and  phrases  threatened  to  rob  the  language 
of  its  simplicity  and  picturesqueness. 

Professor  J.  H.  Gardiner  of  Harvard  Uni- 
versity has  illustrated  the  gain  to  the  lane^uage 
bv  the  use  of  the  warm,  vivid,  AnHo-Saxon 


52  The  Romance  of  the  English  Bible 

instead  of  the  cold,  colorless  Greek  and  Latin, 
by  referring  to  a  phrase  used  by  Tyndale  in 
his  epistle  to  the  reader  of  his  translation. 
He  speaks  there  of  "sucking  out  the  sweet 
pith  of  the  Scriptures."  ~"To-day  the  same  idea 
would  perhaps  be  expressed  by  the  words, 
"Extracting  the  essence  of  Scripture."  Pro- 
fessor Gardiner  adds :  "Thereby  with  what  is 
to  us  the  quaintness  we  should  have  lost  also 
the  eagerness  and  delight  which  color  Tyn- 
dale's  words  with  their  halo  of  feeling." 

As  illustrations  of  picturesque  phrases  which 
would  have  been  lost  to  the  language  if  the 
translation  had  been  a  century  later  these  have 
been  noted :  "The  fat  of  the  land,"  "the  val- 
ley of  the  shadow  of  death,"  "the  end  of  all 
flesh,"  "the  seed  of  evildoers,"  "a  soft  an- 
swer," "a  son  of  perdition." 

The  large  portion  of  Anglo-Saxon  words 
used  by  the  translators  of  the  Authorized  Ver- 
sion is  to  be  seen  from  a  comparison  fre- 
quently quoted.  Gibbon  used  about  seventy 
Anglo-Saxon  words  in  every  hundred.  John- 
son used  about  seventy-five,  Swift  eighty-nine, 
Shakspere  about  eighty-five,  and  the  Author- 
ized Version  more  than  ninety.  The  Lord's 
Prayer  as  given  in  Matthew  contains,  besides 


English  Language  and  King  James  Version     53 

amen,  sixty-five  words,  of  which  fifty-nine  are 
Saxon,  and  six  Latin. 

The  Authorized  Version,  prepared  with  a 
view  to  its  use  by  the  common  people,  went 
into  the  hands  of  the  common  people  at  a 
time  when  the  language  was  yet  in  a  forma- 
tive state.  As  it  speedily  became  the  best- 
read  book  in  the  language — the  only  book 
known  in  most  homes,  in  fact — naturally  the 
Anglo-Saxon  of  the  Bible  became  a  permanent 
part  of  the  speech  of  the  people. 


VII 
THE  REVISED  VERSION  OF   1881-1885 

For  more  than  two  centuries  the  King 
James  Version  was  the  accepted  translation 
of  the  EngHsh  Bible.  Many  thought  that  it 
would  be  the  final  translation. 

But  during  the  nineteenth  century  there 
were  so  many  discoveries  of  important  biblical 
manuscripts — some  of  earlier  date  than  any 
before  known — that  scholars  began  asking  if 
it  would  not  be  wise  to  have  a  new  transla- 
tion on  the  basis  of  a  comparison  of  these 
manuscripts  wath  those  known  to  the  makers 
of  the  King  James  Version.  Diligent  study 
of  some  of  the  newly  discovered  manuscripts 
revealed  differences  between  these  and  the 
manuscripts  on  which  the  Authorized  Version 
was  based.  The  Sinaitic  manuscript  especially 
(see  Chapter  I)  gave  many  different  readings. 

As  early  as   1857  a  new  translation  of  the 

'  Gospel  of  John  and  of  the  Epistles  of   Paul 

was  published  by  five  English  scholars.     The 

entire  Bible  was  soon  after  translated  by  other 

54 


The  Revised  Version  of  1881-1885  55 

scholars,  acting  independently  of  any  author- 
ity. Another  translation  was  given  to  the  pub- 
lic by  an  American  scholar  in  1869.  Other 
partial  translations  were  made  on  both  sides 
of  the  Atlantic. 

Thus  the  way  was  paved  for  the  resolu- 
tion presented  February  10,  1870,  by  Bishop 
Wilberforce  in  the  Upper  House  of  the  Con- 
vocation of  Canterbury.  He  suggested  the 
appointment  of  a  committee  to  report  on  the 
advisability  of  revising  the  Authorized  Ver- 
sion of  the  New  Testament.  Bishop  Ellicott 
— one  of  the  translators  of  1857,  referred 
to  in  the  previous  paragraph — supported  the 
resolution.  The  committee  appointed  was  in- 
structed to  include  the  advisability  of  retrans- 
lating the  Old  Testament  in  their  report. 

In  May,  1870,  the  committee  reported  urg- 
ing the  importance  of  the  proposed  transla- 
tion. A  revision  committee  —  made  up  of 
members  of  the  Houses  of  Convocation — was 
then  appointed,  with  instructions  to  invite  "the 
cooperation  of  any,  eminent  of  scholarship,  to 
whatever  nation  or  religious  body  they  may 
belong."  The  sixteen  members  of  the  origi- 
nal committee — all  identified  with  the  Church 
of  England — invited   representatives   of  other 


56  The  Romance  of  the  English  Bible 

evangelical  churches  to  join  them,  until  there 
were  fifty-four  revisers  in  all. 

Like  the  King  James  Version,  the  new  re- 
vision was  based  on  certain  definitely  stated 
principles.  It  was  proposed  —  among  other 
things — ''to  introduce  as  few  alterations  as 
possible  into  the  text  of  the  Authorized  Ver- 
sion consistent  with  faithfulness,"  "to  limit,  as 
far  as  possible,  the  expression  of  such  altera- 
tions to  the  language  of  the  Authorized  and 
other  earlier  English  versions,"  and  "to  re- 
vise the  headings  of  chapters  and  pages,  para- 
graphs, italics  and  punctuations." 

To  twenty-seven  men  was  intrusted  the  work 
of  the  Old  Testament  translation,  while  the 
remaining  twenty-seven  agreed  to  undertake 
the  translation  of  the  New  Testament.  The 
New  Testament  section  began  work  on  June 
22,  1870,  while  the  Old  Testament  section  first 
met  eighty  days  later  in  the  famous  Jerusalem 
Chamber  of  Westminster  Abbey,  already  fa- 
mous in  church  history  because  there  the 
Westminster  Confession  had  been  written  and 
the  Prayer  Book  Revision  of  1689  had  been 
made.  The  revisers  usually  met  four  days 
each  month,  ten  months  in  the  year,  for  ten 
years  and  a  half.     At  intervals  the  two  com- 


The  Revised  Version  of  1 88 1- 1885  57 

panics  had  a  joint  session  lasting  about  ten 
days,  sixteen  hours  each  day. 

At  the  end  of  six  years  the  New  Testament 
company  had  succeeded  in  completing  their 
task,  all  differences  of  opinion  having  been 
settled  by  a  majority  vote.  Then  they  went 
over  the  translation  a  second  time,  settling  all 
differences  by  a  two-thirds  vote.  Then  two 
and  one  half  years  more  were  required. 

But  the  New  Testament  was  not  yet  ready 
for  publication.  In  1870,  Dr.  Angus,  rep- 
resenting the  British  revision,  had  visited 
America  and  had  proposed  that  American 
scholars  cooperate  with  the  British  Revision 
Committee.  They  were  to  examine  diligently 
the  first  draft  of  the  work  of  the  British  re- 
visers and  return  their  work  with  their  sug- 
gestions. Then  they  were  to  examine  the  sec- 
ond draft  sent  from  England,  embodying  as 
many  of  the  suggestions  as  were  adopted,  and 
returning  this  also  with  their  further  sugges- 
tions. The  British  Revision  would  take  final 
shape  only  after  consideration  of  the  second 
lot  of  suggestions  from  America. 

As  a  result  thirty  men,  representing  many 
denominations,  met  in  the  Bible  House  in  New 
York  City,  beginning  October  4,    1872,   and 


58  The  Romance  of  the  English  Bible 

divided  themselves  into  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ment companies.  The  companies  were  to 
work  with  the  British  revisers  in  accordance 
with  these  stipulations : 

The  English  revisers  promise  to  send  confidentially 
their  Revision  in  all  its  stages  to  the  American  Re- 
visers, to  take  all  the  American  suggestions  into 
special  consideration  before  the  conclusion  of  their 
labors,  to  furnish  them  before  publications  with  copies 
of  the  Revision  in  its  final  form,  and  to  allow  them 
to  present,  in  an  Appendix  to  the  Revised  Scriptures, 
all  the  remaining  differences  of  reading  and  render- 
ing of  importance,  which  the  English  Committee 
should  decline  to  adopt;  while,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  American  Revisers  pledge  themselves  to  give 
their  moral  support  to  the  authorized  editions  of  the 
University  Presses,  with  a  view  to  their  freest  cir- 
culation within  the  United  States,  and  not  to  issue 
an  edition  of  their  own,  for  a  term  of  fourteen  years. 

After  the  completion  by  the  British  New 
Testament  section  of  the  second  stage  of  the 
work,  two  years  more  were  occupied  in  dis- 
cussing, adopting  or  rejecting  the  suggestions 
of  the  American  New  Testament  section,  and 
in  arranging  final  details. 

The  first  printed  copy  of  the  resultant  re- 
vision came  from  the  press  May  17,  1881. 
The  Old  Testament  section  required  fourteen 


The  Revised  Version  of    1881-1885         59 

years  for  their  task.  During  this  time  the  re- 
visers spent  seven  hundred  and  ninety-two 
days  in  conference,  going  over  their  work 
twice,  and  considering  the  suggestions  from 
America. 

The  first  printed  copy  of  the  entire  Revised 
Bible  appeared  on  May  19,  1885 — the  final  re- 
sult of  at  least  six  laborious  revisions — two 
of  these  being  made  in  America  and  four  in 
London. 


VIII 

THE  AMERICAN  STANDARD 

VERSION 

A  short  time  before  the  expiration  of  the 
fourteen  years  during  which  the  American 
Committee  had  agreed  to  give  no  sanction  to 
the  pubHcation  of  any  other  edition  of  the  Re- 
vised Version  than  that  issued  by  the  Uni- 
versity Presses  of  England,  an  edition  called 
by  its  publishers  "The  American  Revised  Ver- 
sion" was  given  to  the  public.  This  edition 
bore  the  imprint  of  the  University  Presses. 
British  publishers  had  incorporated  in  the  text 
the  changes  proposed  years  before  by  the 
American  Committee  which  had  been  rejected 
at  the  time  by  the  British  Committee  and  in- 
serted in  the  American  Appendix  to  the  Re- 
vision of  1881-1885. 

In  the  meantime  the  American  Committee 
had  maintained  its  organization,  holding  fre- 
quent meetings.  The  services  of  the  scholars 
who  made  up  the  committee  were  rendered 
without  pay.    The  result  of  their  labor  of  love 

60 


The  American  Standard  Version  61 

was  given  to  Bible  readers  on  August  26,  1901, 
in  the  American  Standard  Edition  of  the  Re- 
vised Bible.  This  edition  did  far  more  than 
incorporate  in  the  text  the  textual  changes 
proposed  by  the  American  Committee  to  the 
British  revisers.  These  changes  were  first 
thoroughly  revised  in  accordance  with  later 
knowledge  gained  through  new  study  of  the 
ancient  manuscripts,  especially  in  the  light  of 
important  discoveries  made  by  explorers  in 
Bible  lands.  Many  verbal  changes  were  also 
made,  words  in  common  use  in  America  being 
substituted  for  words  which — though  intel- 
ligible enough  to  residents  of  Great  Britain — 
were  not  entirely  clear  to  the  average  Ameri- 
can reader. 

It  was  the  effort  of  both  British  and  Ameri- 
can revisers  to  retain  the  old  readings  except 
where  diligent  comparison  of  manuscripts 
showed  that  the  old  readings  were  incorrect, 
or  where  words  or  phrases  had  been  archaic 
and  therefore  unintelligible.  Many  of  the 
changes  adopted  make  clear  passages  before 
obscure,  as — for  instance — Job  19  :  26.  The 
King  James  Version  reads :  "And  though 
after  my   skin   worms  destroy  this  body,  yet 


62  The  Romance  of  the  English  Bible 

in  my  flesh  shall  I  see  God."  The  American 
Standard  Version  says :  "And  after  my  skin, 
even  this  body,  is  destroyed,  then  without  my 
flesh  shall  I  see  God."  Another  example  is 
Hebrews  ii  :  i,  2,  which  reads  in  the  Old  Ver- 
sion :  ''Now  faith  is  the  substance  of  things 
hoped  for,  the  evidence  of  things  not  seen. 
For  by  it  the  elders  obtained  a  good  report." 
In  the  American  Standard  Version  the  read- 
ing is :  "Now  faith  is  assurance  of  things 
hoped  for,  a  conviction  of  things  not  seen. 
For  therein  the  elders  had  witness  borne  to 
them." 

Examples  of  the  substitution  of  modern 
words  for  archaic  expressions  arc:  ''Settings" 
for  "ouches,"  "baggage"  for  "stufif,"  "find"  for 
"amerced,"  "traders"  for  "chapmen,"  "um- 
pire" for  "daysman,"  "hinder"  for  "let." 

The  American  Standard  Version  has  been 
accepted  by  many  who  look  upon  it  as  the  best 
translation  of  the  Bible  in  the  English  lan- 
guage. There  are  many  others  who  find  it 
impossible  to  give  up  the  King  James  Version, 
whose  words  and  phrases  have  become  dear 
to  them  by  reason  of  years  of  familiarity. 

But  whether  one  chooses  to  read  the  King 


The  American  Standard  Version  63 

James  Version  or  the  Revised  Version,  it  is 
the  Word  of  God  he  takes  in  his  hand — the 
Word  preserved  so  wonderfully  through  the 
ages — the  Word  of  which  God  says :  "It  shall 
not  return  unto  me  void,  but  it  shall  accom- 
plish that  which  I  please." 


Date  Due 

*'fe    '53 

MY  21-^3 

FACULTY 

m 

BS455 .F22 

The  romance  of  the  English  Bible, 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary-Speer  Library 


1    1012  00011   0330 


